Should I have my website designed entirely in Flash?

Flash is commonly considered an invention by Macromedia, although it was actually developed in 1996 by a company called FutureWave, which Macromedia bought when they realised the potential of the technology. Flash has been developed over time, and is now a powerful animation, scripting and graphical environment with a large user base.

The use of Flash on a website can enhance visitor experience and provide smooth interactivity, animation, and sound which cannot easily be achieved with other technologies. It can be used to design interactive presentations which can enhance information about a product or service, but its use brings with it many disadvantages that cannot easily be ignored.

Poor Accessibility
Since Flash movies are mostly visual (without actual text), they cannot be seen by blind or visually-impaired users via their own browsers. Enlarging the text thorough a web browser for ease of readability has no effect on a Flash movie. Users with cognitive difficulties will also often encounter problems navigating through Flash movie websites.

Low Usability
Some basic fundamentals of using the internet - e.g. back buttons, bookmarks, printing and scrolling - often do not function in Flash movies, confusing many users, especially ones that have learnt to use the Internet later in life.

Lack Of Search Engine Friendliness
The content of Flash movies is currently not indexed by most search engines, making a Flash website practically invisible to the search engine user. Websites that are designed entirely in Flash will have difficulty in achieving a high search engine ranking, therefore preventing a great number of potential customers from finding the website.

Higher Maintenance
Flash movies are difficult to maintain. Simple adjustments to standard web pages can be quickly carried out, while the same change to a Flash movie takes much longer, requiring the Flash movie to be re-compiled once the change has been made.

A Plug In Is Required
Web browsers generally require third-party software to be installed in order to play Flash movies. Although recent surveys have shown that approximately 85% of website visitors have the capability to view Flash movies, that still leaves 15% of potential customers who will not be able to view your website.

Longer Download Times
The use of a Flash movie will increase the time your website takes to download. Although, some Flash movies can display quickly, often the fact that a file needs to be downloaded in order for users to view a website is still taking a risk. Visitors to your website need to commit themselves to your site in order to download the Flash file, and will frequently move onto another site instead, especially those with slower dial-up internet connections.

Music And Sound
Although music and sound can be embedded into Flash movies to enhance user experience, many website visitors are increasingly becoming annoyed by the use of sound in websites they are browsing, and will often click away immediately at the onset of any unexpected sound.

Our Conclusion

At Glide Technologies Limited, we accept that Flash is a very effective tool for providing graphical animation and interactivity to a website, we feel that it is best used for only a small part of the website rather than the basis for an entire website design.

By combining small, strategically-placed Flash movies into a well-designed non-Flash website, your site can contain graphical impact and still be accessible to search engines and the huge target audience available via the internet.

We recommend, however, that you do not choose to have your website entirely designed in Flash unless it truly enhances your site and provides features that your target audience will benefit from. Although Flash is ideally suited for media-rich presentations and interactive sequences, the majority of website visitors are primarily concerned with getting the information they want in a fast, easy to use way, and the use of Flash can greatly hinder this.

The poor accessibility and usability features of Flash are the main reasons why we strongly recommend against its use in website design, as we feel that discriminating against potential customers - be they blind, partially sighted, have cognitive difficulties or simply use search engines - does not make sense on a social or business level. Why eliminate a percentage of your potential audience by having a Flash website design instead of having a slightly less graphically-appealing website that can be viewed by everyone?